


Pebbles

by GnomeIgnominious



Series: Fandot creativity nights [1]
Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Fandot Creativity, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-28
Updated: 2015-03-28
Packaged: 2018-03-20 02:40:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3633639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GnomeIgnominious/pseuds/GnomeIgnominious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My first ever contribution to a fandot creativity thing! The prompt was "pebbles".</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pebbles

It was March, and spring was just beginning to bud in the verges and hedgerows, daffodils blooming and tiny green shoots forming on the tips of tree branches. It was Douglas's favourite time of year and it was with a light heart that he found himself with a whole Sunday to spare- Carolyn had guaranteed there would be no last minute trips to far-flung exotic climes. Martin had hurriedly booked a dozen van jobs. Douglas had smiled to himself and woken early to stroll down to the river.

The river Windrush was small and skirted the edges of the town like a fat brown snake, curled and cool with a misty white shroud in the morning air. The mill field was often crowded in the summer with families and couples, but now the long unkempt grass was bare and green, with only a lone dog-walker in the far distance. Douglas crossed the quarter-mile of the field to the longest curve of the river slowly, with his nose in the wind, enjoying the early sunshine. It had been a dry week in Fitton and the river was low, leaving a long spit of shingle exposed next to the bank. On an impulse he scrambled down and stooped to pick up a pebble from the shingle. It had caught his eye from the top of the bank; smooth, round and just the right size for his hand. He cupped it, feeling the dry weight, then flicked his wrist and sent it skimming down the long flat expanse of water. He counted under his breath; three, four, five... and the stone slowed and sank. Not bad. 

As Douglas bent to pick up another pebble, his eye was caught by the approaching dog-walker. He was about to smile and perhaps call good morning, but the other man beat him to it.

"Hi Douglas!"

Ah.

"Hullo, Arthur." Well, that was the end of the peace and quiet.

"That was a really good skim, Douglas!" Arthur scrambled down the bank to join him, getting tangled in Snoopadoop's lead in the process. 

"Thank you Arthur. Think you can beat it?"

Arthur look momentarily doubtful, but quickly recovered his usual enthusiasm.

"I'll have go... but I'm not very good at this sort of thing." He bent down for a pebble and skimmed it across the water. What he lacked in technique he made up for in power- the stone bounced once and nearly hit the opposite bank before disappearing with a splash under water.

"Not bad," Douglas allowed. "Next time, try a little more flick from your wrist..."

Three hours later, Arthur's mobile buzzed with a text from Carolyn wanting to know where he'd got to (and if he'd lost Snoopadoop again to just say so rather than trying to pass off next door's Dalmatian as a Cockerpoo). Douglas replied to the text with a ten second video clip of Arthur proudly skimming a stone and hitting seven whole skips, with the biggest grin on his face he'd ever seen.

**Author's Note:**

> I got up to "Well that was the end of the peace and quiet" before I ran out of time, but I wanted to make it a little more complete. This whole timed writing malarkey is hard!


End file.
